If This Be Nothing
by skyewardfitzsimmonsphilinda
Summary: For this prompt: "Several months after Ward's betrayal Skye has moved on, but Ward isn't ready to give her up to some pretty boy wannabe. *jealous ward*" Jealous Ward/redemption fic.
1. Chapter 1

_Is whispering nothing?__  
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?__  
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career__  
Of laughing with a sigh?-a note infallible__  
Of breaking honesty-horsing foot on foot?__  
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?__  
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes__  
Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,__  
That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?__  
Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;__  
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;__  
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,__  
If this be nothing._

—William Shakespeare, _The Winter's Tale_

It had been nine months since Ward had turned Skye's world on its head with the reveal that he had been working with Hydra.

It had been only three since they had moved him back to the Bus, where he was cooperating with the takedown of Hydra.

Ward was always under some form of supervision, either by Triplett or May (he tended to leave that "supervision" with a bruise or two, so Coulson usually assigned him to Triplett) when he was outside of his cell. He had been cooperative for the most part—dutifully giving them the information they needed and then plodding back to his cell as if nothing mattered to him anymore.

That changed the day they brought a new consultant on board. Coulson had tracked down Aaron Lamar, an old friend of Skye's who had been a hacker on the same level as Miles. He was young—Skye's age; younger than Ward—and well built. He had grown up in the Bronx, on the opposite coast away from Skye, and spoke with a thick accent which always made her grin. Ward had had an accent once, too, she supposed, growing up in Massachusetts, but he had grown adept at hiding where he was from.

Aaron was helping Skye crack an encryption on some files obtained from a remote Hydra base Ward had helped them infiltrate. Ward was at a nearby table, figuring out coordinates with Triplett, whose hands still jumped to his night-night gun every time Ward so much as twitched.

"Who's this?" Ward snapped, jerking his head at Aaron.

"Our consultant," Trip told him curtly. "Where did you see the base was located?"

"Garrett didn't give me the exact coordinates," Ward told him irritably. "And why the hell is that kid there?"

"That kid can hear you, you know," Skye snapped without looking up.

Aaron grinned just a little. "It's okay," he told Skye softly, putting a hand on her arm. "You must be Grant Ward. I've heard about you."

Ward stared at him coldly. "So why the hell are you here?"

"That's not your concern," Skye said loudly, her fingers hitting keys on her laptop with more force than usual.

"I'm here to help Skye," Aaron said. "We need to disable the encryption on some of the files the team procured yesterday."

"Skye doesn't need help," Ward said, his lip curling into a sneer.

Trip placed a restraining hand on Ward's arm. "Chill," he said firmly. "He's a friend, which is more than can be said for you."

Ward turned slightly pale, but didn't deny it. "You have enough dangers to the team on this Bus," he said bitterly. "Why bring in another variable?"

"You're the only one who calls people _variables_," Skye snorted. "Trip, can you take him to a different room to work, please? I can't concentrate when he's ranting over there."

Trip pulled Ward to his feet wordlessly and jerked his head towards the door.

Ward left, but not before drilling Aaron with his most threatening glare.

When he and Trip were seated in the small room near the lab, where Fitz and Simmons were chattering about the slide they currently had under the microscope, Trip looked at him sharply. "That was the only time you've talked about something outside of Hydra intel. What's going on?"

Ward shrugged, annoyed at the concern in Triplett's eyes. "What are you talking about? Let's get to the goddamn base you want to know about."

Triplett sighed and shook his head. "Listen, man, you don't seem to understand. I get it."

Ward squinted at him. "What game are you playing?"

"I mean I understand why you followed Garrett," Trip said, sighing, and Ward looked up at him in astonishment. "I'm not saying that it's okay, and I'm not saying I trust you, but I get it. And I know what you're thinking when you look at Skye."

"You don't know shit, Agent Triplett," Ward said harshly. "And the base. I don't know the coordinates, because Garrett never gave me more than he thought I needed to know. All he told me was that the base was just outside of Bahrain, and there was a raid there fifteen years ago, back when it belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Trip nodded, but he was still looking at Ward thoughtfully. "Skye didn't tell you about the last time she hacked an encrypted Hydra file, did she?"

"I hate to break it to you, Triplett, but we don't really talk much," Ward said sarcastically. "And I'm not interested in your stories. I've been hearing arrogant men tell stories all my life, and it's getting a little old."

"Trust me, I heard enough of Garrett's stories myself," Triplett said quietly.

Ward looked away.

"Can I go back to the cell or did you want more intel?"

Triplett sighed. "Ward," he said quietly. "She hacked into the Hydra base where you stayed with Garrett after Hydra first revealed itself. She saw the footage of him… hitting you."

Ward jumped to his feet, eyes wild. "She—no"—

"That's why Coulson brought Aaron in," Triplett continued calmly, grabbing Ward by the arm and pushing him back into the seat. "He doesn't want Skye to see anything like that ever again. And Skye hasn't been the same since she saw it. She _wants_ to hate you and what she saw is changing her mind just a little"—

"It shouldn't," Ward said roughly. "She should hate me to her heart's content. Garrett's beating was for the cover."

"Is that what you tell yourself, Ward?" Triplett asked quietly, and Ward jerked as if the words had physical force.

"It's the truth," Ward said coldly, masking his reaction almost instantly.

"That wasn't the only footage she uncovered," Triplett continued relentlessly. "There was Prague, the first time you failed a mission. Bahrain, when the Calvary earned her title and you didn't stop her. São Paulo, when he got injured on a mission."

Ward swallowed hard and looked away. "If you saw the footage," he said slowly, his words measured. "Then you would know that I deserved everything John Garrett did to me."

"Do you still?" Triplett asked, his eyes dark. "Do you still deserve to be hit every time you don't perform the way Garrett would want you to?"

But Ward was already walking out the door towards his cell. "Come lock me up, Agent Triplett," he called over his shoulder. "I'm not here for your psychoanalysis."

_The next day. _

They found the base, and Aaron and Skye had hacked the encryption on the file that held details on the base and its security.

"That's the good news," Skye told them. The team was seated in the main room of the Bus. Simmons was practically on Fitz's lap—and had been basically since he had come home from the hospital—and May was standing behind them, in battle stance, eyeing Ward suspiciously out of the corner of her eye. Triplett was standing beside Ward, who was seated at the back of the group, looking anywhere but at Skye. Coulson stood near Skye, listening intently, and Aaron stood just behind her, one hand on the small of her back.

Ward bristled when he saw that, and Skye threw him a dirty look.

"What's the bad news?" Coulson asked.

"The bad news is that they have thirty-six guards on the perimeter, and between May and Triplett, they could probably take them out, but not before raising a massive alarm. Coulson could help, and so could I, but"—

"I could"—Fitz opened his mouth.

"No," said Ward, at the same time as five other voices.

Fitz scowled, annoyed, but Simmons twisted so she was facing him and wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering into his ear until he was smiling again.

"Sir," Triplett addressed Coulson. "Do you remember what we talked about?"

Coulson nodded, and suddenly all eyes were focused on Ward.

"We need another specialist," Coulson said, and Ward couldn't believe his ears. "I'm not saying I trust you, and I'm not saying you're forgiven, because you're not, but I think your loyalties lie with us. At least with Fitz and Simmons and Skye, so you're in charge of protecting them."

"No," Ward said flatly. He stood abruptly and held out his hands to Triplett. "Cuff me and take me back to the cell. I'm not going on this mission."

"Of course he's not," Skye said sharply. "Ward wants to stay in his cell and have his little pity party. He can't be bothered"—

"Skye," Coulson cut her off quietly, laying a hand on her arm.

Ward didn't react to her words, just stood waiting for Triplett to take him back to the cell.

"I think Skye's right," Aaron spoke up for the first time. "Ward shouldn't come on the mission if that's his attitude."

"Oh, and what do _you_ know?" Ward sneered. "You met Skye what? Yesterday. You're not part of this team any more than I am."

"I've known her longer than you, Ward," Aaron laughed. "We've been friends since we were children in St. Agnes. And since of the two of us, I'm not the Hydra traitor, I wouldn't"—

"Would you both just _shut up_?" Skye nearly shouted, and Ward jumped. She turned on her heel and stalked out of the room before anyone could stop her, and Aaron glared at Ward.

Coulson rolled his eyes. "Ward, this conversation isn't finished, but you can wait in your cell until I'm ready to continue it. Aaron, I'd appreciate you if you went back to work. We need to have a team conversation."

Ward went gladly, because it wasn't until he was alone that he could give in to the terror that had started growing inside him the minute Coulson had spoken about having him return to an active duty role, at least briefly. It wasn't that he doubted he could do it.

He could protect—he had protected Garrett for a decade—and he could kill, but it was being responsible for Skye and Fitz and Simmons that terrified him.

Last time he had thought he was doing the only thing he could to save Fitz and Simmons, they had ended up at the bottom of the ocean.

And then there was this Aaron, the arrogant ass hole Skye seemed to trust implicitly. He had a look about him that Ward didn't trust, not at all. He had that smug grin when he looked at Skye, and there was the way his eyes followed her when she walked, and wandered where they shouldn't and—

The cell door flew open, and Ward looked up. He caught his breath in surprise when he saw her standing there.

_Skye. _

She stared at him for a long moment, her eyes unreadable.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her finally, his voice hoarse. She shouldn't be able to make his heart beat faster just by standing there, not after all that had happened. She shouldn't be able to take his breath away, even when anger was written unmistakably across her face.

"I want you to come on the mission," she said abruptly, drilling him with her dark eyes.

"You don't want that," Ward told her dismissively, trying to quell the sudden surge of hope he had felt at her words. "Not really. You know what I am, Skye."

"Yes," she said. "I know what you are. I know that you are the one who was ordered to kill Fitz and Simmons, and instead, you set the plane to fly low over the ocean, and then dropped them in a pod that was supposed to float. I know that you are the one who confronted Garrett after he had me shot, and I know that you were angry and then he made you feel guilty and hit you and that you just stood there and took it. I know that you are the one who followed Garrett to hell because you thought you owed him, and that you were loyal to a fault even when he would beat you, because you were still the kid who thought he deserved it."

She stopped when her voice broke, and Ward stared at her, numb with shock. He opened his mouth, but she shook her head.

"And I also know this, Grant Ward," she said firmly, though her voice still sounded shaky with emotion. "I know that you are the one who is going to keep us safe on this mission. I saw all the footage, more than Triplett or Coulson know. May knows, of course—I think she knows everything that goes on in this plane—and that's why I've been so short with you. None of this means that you're off the hook," she continued. "And that doesn't mean that I can trust you or that I will ever look at you the same way again. But it means that you're coming with us and that… that all those lies Garrett told you about who and what you are? Those can be undone, Grant. You can be remade."

Ward felt something wet slipping down his cheek, and he brushed a hand against it, realizing too late that he had tears standing on his face.

"Skye"—he said brokenly, but he couldn't say more.

He didn't deserve that.

"And you know what else I know?" Skye said suddenly. "I know that you are insanely and ridiculously jealous of Aaron. Simmons and Fitz are betting that one of you will punch each other, but they both lost because… because I punched him first." She turned bright red, and Ward laughed out loud for the first time in nearly a year.

"Of course you did," he grinned. "What did he do?"

"He called you a piece of shit," she said bluntly. "And said Coulson was being naïve and unrealistic to trust someone as awful as you. So I punched him."

Ward couldn't wipe the grin off his face. "Well, I think it's safe to say that if I'd punched him, I would have been tied up and kicked by May, so that's probably a good thing."

Skye reached out one hand and touched his shoulder briefly, her eyes fierce, but soft, too, and Ward jumped at the touch.

Other than fighting May—and a few different interrogators during his time in prison—he had had no physical contact with anyone for over nine months, and he didn't know how much longer since he had had physical contact that didn't leave him injured.

"So you'll come, then?" she asked softly, and Ward knew by the way she lit up his dark cell that he would follow her wherever she asked, and not because he owed her, but because after all he had done and all he had failed to do, he had at least loved her truly… and that now, finally, he would have the chance to follow her out of the dark.

"Yes," he said fiercely. "I'll come."


	2. Author's Note

AN: this is not a chapter update (the work was a oneshot), but I just wanted to say that I get enough hatred on tumblr (and on my main Ward fic) for my stance on redemption for Grant Ward, so if you have negative comments about my works, or are just reviewing to tell me what you _didn't _ like, please. Just don't. The hate is really wearing me down, and one of the reviews on here (left by a guest, so I couldn't PM them to talk) wasn't hate at all (it was written politely actually) was just negative and letting me know what they didn't like about my story.

Please don't feel the need to leave your negative opinions on my story, but if you would like to know my reasoning behind writing the way I do, PM and I'd love to talk about it more in-dept with you.


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